Early this morning I noticed some tiny little ants crawling on a bathroom floor. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t just a little too drowsy to focus properly, but I was fine. Those were ants. Not a lot of them, maybe ten at the most, but albeit, they were ants. They systematically scoured the grout race track that was created just for them by some wonderfully meticulous tile-setter. That what ants do-they scour.
I left the bathroom wondering if I had really seen tiny little ants, or was it just my imagination.
As the day went on, my wife and I were visiting with some family here in Montana (BTW we don’t have those tiny little ants in Cali) and somehow the topic of bugs came up in some of the many not-so-focused convo’s that take place visiting relatives you see once in ten years,… So anyway, my wife piped in on the conversation and shared, ” I saw the tiniest little ants this morning,.. they were so small…” – well, the drone of the conversation went on a bit more- all I could think about was those ants… and how I was in fact not imagining them. I was validated at that moment!
Little Ants built me up! Who would have guessed that that short, brief moment with those scour’ers would have paid off validating me later in the day.
How many times have the seemingly most insignificant thing become so important to us? I mean, don’t we get lost in the rigorous and monotonous things that we think are extremely important, come to find out that 1) no one else cares or 2) no one ever notices…. that is until we point them out to others who matter.
We live in this world where million’s of people are starving, thirsty, shelter-less, and hopeless,… and my little encounter with a millimeter long insect makes my day? What’s this all about?
I think the answer comes in tiny little waves at us. Not an event like the ocean pounding your swim-trunks off, or a raging torrent ripping the backyard umbrella out of its base,…. these are more like little tiny ripples of a wave, barely making it to the shore. Once there, the wave returns to its place of origin(I think). These waves I speak of are more subtle,.. ones that I believe God is constantly sending innocuous little pulses our way,.. in this case, the nearly invisible tiny ant scenario.
Somehow, I don’t know, but God knew I needed a small amount of validation today and the ants got my attention, and my wife’s too.
Here it goes,… what impact did that little validation make in the outcome of world hunger, third world atrocities or any other calamity, I don’t know… but perhaps those little ants, the rubbing of my eyes to make sure, then the later comment by Camie, gave me a boost that allowed me to have a micro-more amount of confidence that led me to broaden my smile to a stranger, or encourage a family member in their walk with Jesus, or it has allowed me to pen these words tonight,.. who knows???
Ants… they are little,… almost unnoticed. Not cared for by any human,.. maybe not even discovered( these specific ants that is) until this morning… who knows?
Are there tiny little ants you are missing seeing? Maybe they aren’t ants for you at all, but rather a head-drooped stranger,… a lost and suffering soul,.. or the person sitting next to you? And one of them gets encouraged in thier area of passion and… cures cancer, is the next Billy Graham, goes to love an orphan, or just makes her family happy with a well cooked meal.
Little ants in the morning might just change the world!
p.s.- try not to squish ’em either
pkriskent 